Skip redundant pieces
KU Home  :  Chemistry  :  Graduate

Greetings from the Chemistry Department at Kansas!

Chemistry

Welcome Prospective Graduate Students!

For a student wishing to earn an M.S. or Ph.D. in Chemistry, the selection of a graduate school is one of the most important career decisions you will make. Your choice will not only determine where you will be during the next several years, but will lay the foundation for your future. Your decision to enter a particular graduate program will only be the beginning of exciting challenges.

At the University of Kansas, we feel that our program provides excellent and diverse opportunities for the student interested in a career in cutting-edge research, higher education or any one of a number of chemically related positions requiring an advanced degree. We have a department of outstanding faculty, each of whom is dedicated to providing mentoring to graduate students and guiding them during their journey from undergraduate to colleague. Of course, that could be said about many chemistry departments at research universities. When choosing a graduate school, you need to ask what makes KU different? Among many distinguishing characteristics, there are three that stand out.

  1. Research Diversity - the Department's research programs and faculty place KU Chemistry at the leading edge of scientific research in a broad range of areas ranging from the highly biologically end of the spectrum (such as our well regarded program in bioanalytical chemistry, or other efforts in proteomics and drug design), to materials research (both experiment and theory), to "green" chemistry (e.g. environmentally benign catalysis), to state-of-the-art molecular simulation and theory, and to the development of new strategies and paradigms in chemical education.

  2. Commitment and Support of Interdisciplinary Research and Training - the Chemistry Department and university put a strong premium on interdisciplinary research and the vast majority of our faculty have research collaborations that strongly involve other departments at KU, around the country, or abroad. All such projects involve significant graduate student participation. Active collaborations exist with Departments of Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, to name only a few. The department is also a major participant in several interdisciplinary training grant programs at KU.

  3. Collegiality - the University of Kansas has a strong culture of collegial interaction among the faculty, staff and students. The department recognizes that effective scientific interaction and development is best achieved within an atmosphere of mutual respect and professionalism and takes an active role in fostering and maintaining such an environment.

We are very proud of our tradition of excellence in research and of our many former graduate and undergraduate students who have done on to highly successful careers in chemistry. We encourage you to visit our campus if possible and to correspond directly with faculty members whose research areas interest you. We hope that you will explore this site and decide for yourself that the University of Kansas is your first choice for graduate school. If you have any questions about our graduate program or research opportunities, please feel to contact me by e-mail at blaird@ku.edu or by phone at (785) 864-4632.

We hope to see you in the Fall!

Sincerely,

Brian B. Laird
Associate Chair for Graduate Programs
Department of Chemistry
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045, USA